


Psychology, Forbidden Fruit, and the Unraveling of Clementines

by ghostlyfemslash



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7589191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyfemslash/pseuds/ghostlyfemslash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"As adorable as her disappointment is, you do have to start feeling bad for her. She’s been talking on and off about biology girl since the beginning of the year, practically. You look to the girl across the room and nod. She stands up, waiting for you to do the same. Kanaya may not be having the best of luck with her crush, but she’s fortunate enough to have a big sister who’s been seducing people like biology girl for years now."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Psychology, Forbidden Fruit, and the Unraveling of Clementines

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Biology, Clementines, and the Movement of Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5647618) by [flourwings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flourwings/pseuds/flourwings). 



> This was written as a companion piece, so it will make much more sense if you read the original first!  
> (You should read the original anyways because, frankly, it's beautiful)

Kanaya is staring off into the distance again, and despite her occupied eyes and past objections to the topic at hand, you feel the need to press forward. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” you continue, “I’m not saying she was bad in bed! Quite the opposite, in fact. But I just don’t have time to sort out someone else’s internalized misogyny, do you know what I mean?” 

“Um,” she says, blinking back into attention, “Not really, no.” She looks around the cafeteria, and you suddenly remember how little time she spends here. Your little sister usually stays in the girls’ locker room during lunch time, which has done very little to disguise her more sapphic tendencies. You really have to laugh at Kanaya’s subtlety- or really, lack thereof. For all of her embarrassment over how public you make your sexuality, she certainly doesn’t conceal hers. 

_Speaking of sapphic tendencies,_ you think, following Kanaya’s eyes over to your friends. Sitting across the table from her are two of your closer compatriots: Latula Pyrope, who is currently nodding her head mindlessly to the electronica blaring through her bright red headphones, and Damara Megido, who is cautiously eating a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

For the quick seconds that Kanaya spends eyeing your friends, you spot one of her own peers across the cafeteria. She’s looking at you from behind a pair of large, circular glasses, her gaze almost wolf-like in its intensity. She cocks her head to side, her ears perked up as she notices you noticing her. 

You smile at Kanaya, whose lips are still pursed after your commentary on your latest conquest. 

“Oh, that’s fine, sweetie,” you say, silently bemused by her discomfort. The girl across the room nods, signalling you. You pause and reapply your already-perfect black lipstick.

“Refresher?” you ask, offering the uncapped tube to your sister. 

She shakes her head. “No thank you. I’m going to shower in a minute,” she says. 

You shrug and glance back up at the girl across the room, who is now watching you with pleading eyes. Taking pity on her, you return your focus back to Kanaya. “So,” you ask, “have you hooked up with cute bio class girl yet?” You casually return the lipstick back into your bra, and you can practically feel the girl across the room sigh in relief as she recognizes your signal.

Kanaya, on the other hand, practically jumps off of her seat. “Porrim!” she reprimands in a strident, squeaky tone. 

“Is that by any chance a triumphant tone of voice?” you tease. 

The colour of her face deepens as she fiddles with the strap of her duffel bag. “No.” 

As adorable as her disappointment is, you do have to start feeling bad for her. She’s been talking on and off about biology girl since the beginning of the year, practically. You look to the girl across the room and nod. She stands up, waiting for you to do the same. Kanaya may not be having the best of luck with her crush, but she’s fortunate enough to have a big sister who’s been seducing people like biology girl for years now. 

“Oh, Kanaya,” you say, as you rise to your feet. You gently place your hand on your shoulder, and smile sadly down at her. Your sister blinks at you with eyes that speak of purity and youth. You shake your head. “If you’re waiting for fate to introduce you, dear,” you say, “you’ll be waiting for ever.” Wisdom imparted, you glide away between two rows of laminate-top tables. You carry nothing with you as you leave the cafeteria in pursuit of the girl from across the room. 

Her name is Jade Harley, and she’s having difficulty with your sister.

You see her almost immediately after exiting the cafeteria. She’s leaning against the wall directly across from the cafeteria, not particularly noticeable to anyone but you. The two of you make eye contact almost immediately as you walk towards her. The infamous bio girl, Rose Lalonde, is holding hands with her.

“So, from what I hear,” Rose says, “Kanaya is experiencing some trepidation over approaching me.” She is petting Jade’s hand.

“Yes, well,” you say, “I suspect she’ll move past it.” You start to walk down the hallway towards your AP Psychology class. Jade and Rose follow you dutifully. 

“Do you think so?” Jade asks, her shoulders relaxing. You hadn’t even known they were tense until this moment. 

“You know,” Rose continues, “Jade and I consider ourselves fortunate that you’ve agreed to helping us out with your sister. Neither of us have any idea what she’s thinking.” This strikes you. Do Jade and Rose spend as much time thinking about your sister as she thinks about them? What if they talk for hours about the way the light hits her face, just like she does for Rose? 

Jade reaches into her bag, and pulls out three clementines- one of which she offers to you. You gladly accept the gift. 

“Don’t worry,” you say, “Kanaya is incredibly easy to read once you get to know her.”

“If Kanaya were a book, she’d be written in a foreign language!” Jade says.

Rose quickly covers her adoring grin with her hand. You dig your perfectly manicured nails into the flesh of the fruit you are holding, trying to keep yourself from rolling your eyes at Jade. You glance sideways at her, smiling wryly. Jade starts to pick at her clementine.

“She is a very talented obfuscator,” you say, the tone of your voice giving away your amusement. “But once you get past that outer layer of hers, you won’t even be able to conceive that others cannot read her mind as you do.”

Jade sighs, loudly.

“She’s kind of like a clementine,” you say, bringing the girls to a stop outside of your classroom. Jade’s ears seem to perk up as she watches you meticulously pull apart the fruit in your hand. “You’ve just got to find a way to get under her skin, even if that means ripping it off.” 

Jade nods. “I’ll do my best,” she says. 

“We’ll continue this later,” Rose whispers to you.

“Okay,” you whisper back. You step into your classroom, but watch them as they walk away together. Rose pecks Jade lightly on the lips and steals a piece of fruit out of her girlfriend’s hands. Jade laughs.

...

 _Kanaya will be fine,_ you think. _She can deal with this._

She hasn’t even truly spoken to Rose yet, but it’s clear after your recent conversation that both Rose and her girlfriend are somewhat enthralled already. How could Kanaya mess up something that’s already been pre-determined? For all of the fumbling syllables, downcast glances, and obvious blushing that she presents when discussing Rose, she seems to have given off a good impression anyways. At least, that’s what you can gather, given that Jade herself is trying to get the two of them together. 

After school, you and Latula huddle under an umbrella and watch Kanaya’s practice from afar. 

The first thing you notice is Jade. Or, rather, you notice Kanaya noticing Jade. Every time the two come even near each other, Kanaya nearly falls flat on her face. Your sister is easily the most graceful player on the team, so seeing her completely lose her footing is disconcerting.

“Maryam!” barks the team captain. Kanaya flinches. “Take a couple laps to get your shit together and put your head on straight!”

Your heart breaks as you watch Kanaya toss her gear onto the bleachers and jog wearily through the mud. You have the benefit of getting an umbrella, but your little sister is soaked to the bone. From where you’re standing, it’s hard to tell if her lack of reaction to the mud splashing in her face is the result of her ever-present composure, or because she’s too upset for something like a little mud to affect her at this point. Jade glances at her in worry every now and then. 

While Kanaya is busy straightening her head, you notice Rose Lalonde nearby. She is also watching the practice. She looks slight beneath her expansive black umbrella, her eyes darting back and forth between Jade and Kanaya. It seems Kanaya isn’t the only who can’t keep her head straight.

Eventually, even the Peixes girl has to admit to the fact that it’s raining too hard to continue practice. “Okay, team!” she calls out over a crack of thunder. “We can pick this up tomorrow!” Rose frowns, then swiftly turns towards the road into town.

While Kanaya and her teammates are hustling off towards the locker room, you pull Latula against you. “You cool, Porrim?” she asks. You chuckle and kiss her forehead. She responds with a friendly peck on your cheek. You can feel her lean into you more.

“I’m fine,” you say. “This day has been a bit exhausting.”

“I feel,” she says as she nestles into your arms. The sky flashes and then fills with the deep rumbling of thunder. Your shoes are getting wet. “Hey, do you wanna head back to your house now so we can do our psychology work?” 

“Gladly,” you tell her. “While we’re at it, we can help my sister get with her friend from Biology.” _Or make out,_ you almost say. As much as you’d love to be pressing Latula into your bed while you leave lip stains all over her neck, now is really not the time. Kanaya hasn’t really taken her crushes beyond awkward flirting, and that means that your casual after-school activities Latula need to take a back seat.

“Yeah,” she says, dreadfully unaware of how much faster your stolen pulse has become. “Wait, what’s this about Kanaya and the bio chick?”

You try to return your focus back to the situation at hand. She mistakes your silence for confusion, and turns her head slightly to face you. “Oh, you mean Rose?” 

You smile at her. She can be so adorable. So stupidly adorable. 

“Jade asked us to help her hook them up,” you say, composure restored. Then, letting her escape your embrace, you add, “If you’d like to be in on it.” 

“Hell yeah!” Latula shouts, grinning broadly. “Hey, let’s see if we can beat her home!” She grabs your hand and leaps forward, not hesitating to pull you with her. 

You remind yourself that Kanaya will be fine. if even you can fall prey to crushes, then she can certainly handle this.

…

When Kanaya gets home, you and Latula interrogate her. She stutters as she explains her plan to join Jade and Rose’s lab group. 

“Wow, what a shit idea,” Latula says. You try not to hiss at her. Kanaya starts to stand up, attempting to flee from the floor of your room. Having known that she would likely try and escape, you have no issue grabbing the back of her sweatshirt and pulling her back down.

She looks back at you, her eyebrows knit in frustration. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she huffs.

“This conversation will be therapeutic for you,” you shoot back, keeping one hand bunched in the fabric of your sister’s sweatshirt. You flip through a magazine with your other hand, leaning casually against your bed. “It’s good to share your thoughts and feelings with others.”

“Or,” Kanaya says, “I could do none of those things, and instead work on completing tomorrow’s homework.” 

“Fuck homework!” Latula says enthusiastically. You shoot a playful glare at her, and she grins,  leaning more heavily against your desk. 

“So, how do you feel about spending more time with Rose now that you know she’s dating someone else?” you ask, cutting right to the chase. You can feel Kanaya nearly lurch forward, as though she were prepared to tear right through her sweatshirt and make a break for it. Fortunately, the both of you know that you are stronger and faster than you appear.

“I’m not sure,” Kanaya says, settling back down into the carpet. “I don’t think it will be too bad, as long as I avoid making a complete fool of myself.”

You think of Jade, and how nervous she was about not being able to read Kanaya. As far as you can tell, Kanaya would have to make a concentrated effort in order to make a fool of herself in front of Jade. If there’s anything you know about your sister, however, it’s that her modesty will really be the death of her. 

Modesty aside, you have to press forward. “Interesting,” you say. Kanaya groans, but you continue anyways. “Just the other day you were terrified of even greeting Rose. Do you think maybe you’re using the fact that her girlfriend will be there as a kind of security blanket? An oh, I don’t need to worry about Rose because I don’t have a chance with her now anyways kind of thing?”

“Just a sec,” Latula interrupts. “I mean, are we even sure that those two are really girlfriends?” You raise an eyebrow, but no one notices. 

Before you can even say something, Kanaya jumps up. “I saw them kissing!” she replies, voice plaintive. 

Oh. So that’s how Rose and Jade interpreted your comments about getting under Kanaya’s skin.  Considering that it was basically your idea, you need to find a way to smooth that over as quickly as possible. “Well,” you say, “that’s not necessarily indicative-”

“Yeah, so what?” Latula interrupts. Excited, she uncrosses her legs. “I mean, I’m not dating your sister, and look!” She leans over and kisses you squarely on the mouth. Though Kanaya shifts to the side in shock, you have the self control to stay completely still. You even tilt your head to the side and push deeper into the kiss, which gives you the great pleasure of hearing Latula whimper serendipitously. 

Kanaya shift awkwardly. “Um,” she says after a moment, “can I leave?”

You pull away from Latula. “No,” you tell your sister as you turn to face her. Your entanglement returns to leaning against your desk, and your heart flutters a bit at the sight of your lipstick tracked across her mouth. Kanaya sighs. 

“I even asked Feferi,” she says. “They’re definitely dating.” She slumps down further against your bed. As per usual, she seems to have missed the point. “But honestly, it’s fine. Jade is very nice. I like her.” 

You and Latula glance at each other quickly. “Like her?” You ask. 

“You mean like her like her?” Latula chimes in, smiling broadly at you. 

“No,” Kanaya says. She pauses, and both you and Latula have to cover your mouths to keep from laughing. “At least,” Kanaya says,” I don’t think so.”

Well. Jade will have to hear about this. 

...

You barely get through the next day’s AP Psych class awake, as usual. As usual, you’re already familiar with the content that Mr. Boxcars is droning on about. As usual, you and Latula barely scraped through last night’s reading on sexuality and ego. As usual, the both of you found a more interesting way to study the material.

At lunch, you snuck almost an armful of clementines into your bag. By the time class reaches the discussion period, you have fully peeled three or four of them. You’ve organized each bit of the fruit, even the white dangly bits, into piles on your desk. It turns out that eating clementines is more fun once you’ve truly picked them to bits. 

“What up?” says Latula, sliding her seat up to your desk for discussion. She sits backwards in her chair.

“Nothing in particular,” you say, enamoured. 

Across from you, your third discussion partner, the infamous Kankri Vantas, pulls his entire desk up to yours. His nose is turned up at the sight of Latula’s dirty sneakers. Part of the fun of having Kankri in your AP Psych discussion group is just how easy he his to set off. You love the boy dearly, but he can be a bit ridiculous at times. Bantering and debating with him has just become par for the course at this point. 

“Jeez,” says Latula, flipping through the reading that she half-assedly highlighted while you kissed her neck last night, “How does all this Id and Ego stuff relate to sex again? If I have to read the phrase ‘forbidden fruit’ one more time, I swear… Y’know, this text is so ruthless that only the most uptight people would get anything out of it.” She snorts to herself, then looks up at you. “Maybe that’s how we get Kanaya laid!” 

“And what exactly are you trying to corrupt young Kanaya with?” Kankri asks. His lips purse up a bit. You try not to sigh. His fingers tap on the desk surface, as if he needs to remind you of his presence.

“A healthy sex life,” you say, holding back the snark in your voice. 

Latula smacks her knee and laughs. Kankri’s face somehow scrunches up more. He doesn’t always have this much of a stick up his ass, but apparently today is special. “And what makes you so qualified to teach her that?” he asks. You try to ignore him and search through the reading, but he sits there, drumming his fingers. He’s waiting for you to answer, so you oblige. 

“You know I’ve enjoyed the presence of many people,” you say, “as much as it seems to shock you. Kanaya is getting to an age where not understanding these things may prove to be a disservice to her, and since she’s heard nearly all of the stories I’m comfortable telling her, I’m not letting the opportunity for her to learn slip by. I’d prefer she learn these things while guided by someone more experienced, someone who she’s more comfortable with.”

Kankri rolls his eyes, then opens up his reading. “We should be focusing on our work,” he informs you.

“Yeah,” Latula says, winking at you. “The fruit Porrim goes for isn’t usually forbidden from her. She’s gotta learn about it somehow!” She makes a V with her pointer and middle finger, then darts her tongue through it. Kankri huffs.

You smile wryly at her as you fiddle with one of the clementine peels on your desk. 

...

After class, Kankri follows you to your locker. “You do realise that you’re going to damage that girl, right?” he asks. He has his books pressed against his chest. He doesn’t seem to be bantering now. 

“No,” you tell him.

He frowns. “While I have no experience myself, I can imagine that frolicking around gets somewhat tiring.. Other people aren’t full of boundless energy like you are, Porrim, especially not Kanaya. I’m still not even sure how you manage to romp around with so many people, let alone with such incredible frequency.”

“Ha ha,” you say dryly. You open your locker, hoping that he’ll take it as a sign to buzz off. “Well, what I do with my body is my choice.”

“No,” Kankri says, cutting you off. “Not when you share it with so many others.”

“Um,” you stutter out. Kankri, brow furrowed, does not back down. 

“You can’t just impose such an irresponsible lifestyle on her, you know!” he barrels on. 

“Okay,” you say, breathlessly. Kankri, now standing on his imaginary soapbox, sniffs in self-righteousness. 

You ball your fists and grit your teeth. He keeps going. “And you can’t just go around acting like the manifestation of your sexuality is the only acceptable manifestation!” 

You slam the door to your locker, hard. 

“Oh my god!” you say, whipping around to face him. He flinches, but stands his ground. You take a deep breath, trying your damnedest to regain your composure. “It seems to work perfectly fine for you,” you say.

He stares at you, his lips pressed tightly

Just as he opens his mouth to rebuff, you hear your sister saying your name. You look around for her, and see her rushing towards you. She’s practically collapsing before you and Kankri, a ball of restrained tears and broken tights and bruised skin held together by string. 

“Come with me,” you say, taking her hand. 

Before either Kankri or Kanaya can object, you’re already pushing through the hallways. When you finally reach the second floor girls’ bathroom, you let her crumble against the sink. You rub her back as she hiccups, her arms wrapped around her chest. 

To ensure your sister’s dignity, you scan the area for any other students. You see Damara smoking near the bathroom window. She raises an eyebrow. You smile sadly at her. She nods, understanding, then returns to her cigarette. 

“That was incredibly stupid,” Kanaya says. Her nose is running. You don’t know what to say. 

“I know, I know,” you tell her. “It’ll be alright.” 

“And now I’m being even stupider!” she cries. She looks up into the mirror, and you can now see how red her eyes are. You look over at Damara, who is still watching you. Damara looks back sympathetically, then flicks an ash onto the tile floor.

You sigh, then smile at your sister. “Yeah, a bit,” you say. Kanaya sniffs, and laughs lightly. Her excellent composure has once again saved her and left her cheeks still dry, but you know her too well to think she’ll be okay. Poor Kanaya. 

...

Damara and Latula walk home with you after school. The first thing you do is check Kanaya’s room. She is absent, so you are relieved when Jade texts you within a few minutes to say that both she and your sister are at Rose’s house. It seems that despite Kanaya’s tearful episode earlier, she has managed to get back in the metaphorical saddle. You wonder, not for the first time, about just how much Kanaya is capable of keeping beneath her 

As you return to your room, you hear Damara and Latula bickering playfully.

“Come on, admit it!” Latula exclaims.

You pause. After a moment of silence, Latula laughs. “Oh, like you don’t know what I’m talking about!” she teases.

You stop just outside the room, and knock on the doorframe to announce your presence.

“Yo, Porrim!” Latula says, beckoning you to enter her open arms. She and Damara are sitting side by side on your bed, having left a space for you. How considerate. You reach into your backpack for three clementines.

“Here, take these off my hands,” you say as you toss them over. 

Damara looks at you with her eyebrows raised in amusement.

Latula catches hers and immediately starts digging her fingertips in. “How’s Kanaya doing, by the way?” she asks.

“Alright,” you respond. You take your seat next to Latula. “She’s hopefully making out with Rose by now.” 

“We should celebrate!” Latula says, tossing a portion of orange fruit into her mouth.

While Damara and Latula eat their clementines, you just peel yours. For whatever reason, you don’t feel hungry. You start from the navel and unravel it in a very precise, unbroken piece. There’s something not quite right in the air.

“Hey,” Latula says, watching you work the peel, “let me try that!”

You smile. “No,” you say. 

Latula elbows you lightly in the ribs. “Aw, you’re just being selfish!” 

“Oh, absolutely,” you respond. “I like to have things be completely mine.” You wiggle your eyebrows as you pop a slice of clementine into your mouth. 

“But you’re just going to throw it out later,” Latula says incredulously. You blink.

“What?” you ask.

“Oh, come on,” she says, “are you really going to try and keep that piece of peel forever? You’ve got to throw it out at some point.” Damara coughs. You look at the both of them, wondering if you’ve missed something. 

Suddenly, Latula breaks out laughing. She turns so that her legs are now in your lap, and drapes an arm across you. 

You’ve definitely missed something.

“You’re dumb,” Latula says. Your cheek prickles under the heat of your breath. “I’m gonna try and kiss you better.” She roughly presses her lips against yours, and you inhale sharply. Damara doesn’t react, just sits there watching. 

Latula kisses you. She straddles your lap and presses your shoulders against the wall and kisses you. You close your eyes and taste the citrus on her lips. You kiss her back, but you don’t taste like anything.

Eventually, she stops kissing you. You take a few moments to open your eyes. When you finally do, you see that Damara has taken your place. Latula is now straddling her, grinding up against her lap. Damara has her hands all over Latula’s back, practically pushing her closer and closer. Their kiss lasts much, much longer.

Latula breaks away from Damara, falling back against your bed and giggling. Damara looks at you with a smile in her eyes, and shrugs. Damara isn’t the one who can’t share. 

“I’m sorry,” Latula says, looking up at you with her hair spread out all around her. “I should have asked. Is this okay?” 

It’s now that you realise that Latula is not a clementine. If she were, you would be stripping every bit of peel off of her. You would be taking all of her parts and organizing them into piles. You would be studying her intently, perfecting the art of unraveling her outer layer. But, as you have to remind yourself, she is not a clementine. She is not a clementine, no matter how hard you try to get under her skin. 

You look over at Damara. “Yes,” you say, breathless. Damara nods and presses another slice of fruit past her lips. Excitedly, Latula pulls her shirt over her head. Damara unbuttons the front of her dress. You follow suit. 

You unravel. 

...

You’re sitting in your usual spot, your arms arranged artfully, your legs crossed elegantly even though no one can see them under the table. 

It’s still raining outside, a soft, endless rain that fills the sky, hisses against the pavement, and makes the Peixes girl frown. Everything is damp and hazy and soft.

You look across the lunchroom, where your sister is sitting with her new girlfriend and her girlfriend’s girlfriend. Jade has her head resting on Rose’s shoulder. Kanaya and Rose have intertwined their hands. 

“Ah, young love,” you say. It’s something you’ve always wanted to say, and you smile, satisfied with yourself. 

Damara snorts, tearing apart her peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich. 

“What?” Latula asks too loudly, headphones over her ears. 


End file.
